‘HITTING THE RIGHT MARK’ GN Review – Green Arrow Vol. 5 The Outsiders War: Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino (DC Comics)

Day Fourteen of the graphic novel review a day here at Tripwire and Wednesday’s book is Green Arrow: Volume 5: The Outsiders War, by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, DC Comics.

Lemire is a very versatile creator: he is able to move from creator-owned series like Sweet Tooth and Trillium to something like this with rare ease. Here, Green Arrow Oliver Queen finds himself going head-to-head with the Outsiders, a group of clans who tried to manipulate Queen’s destiny while he was trapped on the island to lead the disparate clans. However, all hasn’t gone to plan and so he finds himself facing off against Komodo, the man who killed Queen’s father, Robert.

Lemire is assisted by artist Andrea Sorrentino, who manages to synthesise a little bit of Jae Lee, some Alex Maleev and even a little bit of Sean Phillips to create visuals which are visually kinetic and distinctively unique. We do have a little bit of old-school DC with a short section drawn by Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz, which is rather refreshing to see but mostly this is an example of how the New 52 can actually create something new and fresh.

The title does owe a few things to the TV series Arrow but it is a lot darker and closer to something like Frank Miller’s Daredevil than the TV iteration. The pair have left the title now, to be replaced by a rather unmemorable team, but this is one of the most consistently enjoyable Green Arrow stories in many years…

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